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WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER. 














COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


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THE ANIMAL BOOK 


9 



















The Animal Book 





THE 

ANIMAL BOOK 


BY 

WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER 

AUTHOR OF “NOTHING TO WEAR,” ETC. 


WITH EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND EIGHT IN BLACK-AND-WHITE 
BY ELSIE DODGE P ATT EE 



> * 

> ) > 

> , » 

NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



COPYRIGHT, I 9 I 4 » BY 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY 

WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER 


all rights reserved 


c 



£ a So 


September, 1914 


SEP 22 1914 


©CI.A379595 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Animal Book Frontispiece v/ 

FACING 

PAGE 

“He looked like a very fine old gentleman” - 8 / 

“They stuck their noses into the stream” - - 12 V 

“The bear nearly danced his legs and paws off” - 16 

“The orang-outang and the organ-grinder sat down 

side by side” ------ 22 ,/ 

“The orang-outang bit off half the orange at once” 26 / 

“They knew he was Santa Claus himself” - - 32 V 

“A Merry Christmas” - - - - - 38 i/ 






















































































THE ANIMAL BOOK 

I 

^T^HERE was once a grandpapa who lived in 
a house on a hill in a small town near a 
large city. This grandpapa had thirteen grand- 
children — eight boys and five girls — the eldest 
a boy of eight years and the youngest a boy baby 
just able to creep. They were all very fond of 
getting into the big room which their grandpapa 
called his Library because it held a great many 
books; and in one corner of this Library, down 
[i] 



2 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


on the lowest shelf, there was one book which 
these grandchildren loved most of all to get hold 
of and look at. As soon as they were able to 
talk they all wanted this book which they called 
the “Animal Book,” because it was filled with 
pictures of all sorts of animals. Even the grand- 
children who could not talk would sit on their 
grandpapa’s knee, or stand by his side, and pat 
the animals, and call out “bow-wow” when they 
saw a dog, or “moo-cow” when they saw a cow. 

It would be hard to tell which of the animals 
these thirteen grandchildren liked best. There 
were orang-outangs, large and small, baboons 
and baby baboons, monkeys of all sizes, a polar 
bear sitting on a large cake of ice, a very big 
black European bear with his thick coat of long 
hair, elephants, zebras and kangaroos, all manner 
of horses, donkeys and deer, camels and cats. 
There was the St. Bernard dog who digs in the 
deep snow and saves people from being frozen 
to death ; the Newfoundland dog who jumps into 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


3 


the water and pulls out little children when they 
fall in; the pointer dog who goes out with his 
master to show him where birds are that he can 
shoot and bring home for dinner; the shepherd- 
dog who watches the flocks of sheep and goes 
after the stray lambs and brings them back; the 
mastiff who walks around the farmer’s barn and 
takes care of the chickens; the bull-dog who 
looks after the meat hanging up in the butcher’s 
stall, and the spotted coach-dog who runs be- 
tween the horses’ legs without getting a kick. 
There was the rhinoceros with his thick skin, 
the giraffe with his long neck, and the hippo- 
potamus with his hard name, which it took the 
thirteen grandchildren a great while to learn. 

As the thirteen grandchildren loved the ani- 
mals so much it was no wonder the animals loved 
the grandchildren, and when they had been put 
away on their shelf in the corner, after they had 
been patted and kissed, they very often had long 
talks together about the grandchildren. The 


4 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


hyena was very fond of one of the little girl 
grandchildren; he loved her enough to eat her 
up. The whole monkey family thought a great 
deal of the older boy grandchildren because they 
climbed and twisted and tumbled over each 
other and doubled themselves up very much as 
they did themselves, while the bears were ready 
at any time to hug all the thirteen boys and girls, 
big and little, whether they wore pantaloons, 
kilts, frocks, or long clothes. 


II 


NE cold night — the night but one before 
Christmas — the elephant poked the gi- 
raffe with one of his tusks and said, so that all the 
animals could hear, “I do wish we could club 
together and get each of these thirteen grand- 
children a Christmas present. If I were not so 
old I would like to go out and buy the presents 
and bring them home in my trunk.” 

“It would be very nice,” said the giraffe, “but 
if I were to go out on these winter nights I 
should catch a sore throat ten feet long, so some- 
body else must get the presents.” 

Just then the polar bear gave a growl, as much 
as to say, “Animals, listen to me.” So all the 
animals listened, and the polar bear said, “I am 
not afraid of the cold, but you cannot possibly 
buy presents for the thirteen grandchildren 
[ 5 ] 


6 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


without money, and no one in the whole ‘Animal 
Book’ has any money.” 

The animals knew that what the polar bear 
said was true, and then they all went to sleep 
except the oldest orang-outang and the big Euro- 
pean bear and the white-nosed monkey. Pres- 
ently the orang-outang whispered to the bear, “I 
know how we could raise the money to buy 
Christmas presents for the thirteen grandchil- 
dren, if you will help and if I can get a suit of 
clothes.” 

“How?” said the bear as he sat up and leaned 
over with his big ear toward the orang-outang. 

“Why, don’t you see,” said the orang-outang, 
“if I were to dress up in men’s clothes and take 
you out, you could dance and we could pick up 
pennies and five-cent pieces enough to buy the 
presents with, and if the white-nosed monkey 
would go with us, he could help; but, dear me, 
I have got no clothes.” 

“Look here,” said the white-nosed monkey, “I 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


7 


know where you can get all the clothes you want, 
Mr. Orang-outang; I heard the grandmamma 
say she had put a pile of clothes out in the attic 
to give to a missionary.” 

“But I am not a missionary,” said the orang- 
outang, “and I do not want to wear clothes that 
do not belong to me.” 

White-nose thought a minute and then he said, 
“Mr. Orang-outang, I think buying Christmas 
presents for the thirteen grandchildren is real 
missionary work, but, anyhow, you will bring 
the clothes back and then they can go to the mis- 
sionary; and I will go along with you and 
Mr. Bear; though there is another thing we 
ought to have which you have not said anything 
about.” 

“And what is that?” said the orang-outang 
and the bear together. 

“A hand-organ,” said the white-nosed mon- 
key; “if we had a hand-organ it would be all 
right; but we can try what we can do without it; 


8 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


only, Mr. Bear will have to dance very high and 
take a great many steps.” 

Then these three animals, after talking a little 
more about it, waited until it was near daylight, 
and slipped out quietly and went upstairs to the 
attic, and easily found the pile of clothes, and 
picked out a pair of pantaloons and a coat and 
vest for the orang-outang, also an overcoat and a 
soft hat and a large pair of shoes; and when, 
with the help of his companions, he was dressed 
up in these things, he looked like a very fine old 
gentleman. They found a pair of reins with 
bells on them which the grandchildren used to 
play horse with, and they took them for the 
orang-outang to lead the bear with. The orang- 
outang did not put on the shoes, nor the bear the 
reins, till they had gone downstairs and got out 
of the house, for fear of making a noise; then 
they walked out to the gate and into the street. 



He looked like a very fine old gentleman.”— Page 8 



















* 




































































Ill 

T T was so early in the morning that there were 
very few people out of doors. The first man 
they saw was a milkman who was driving his cart 
with two great cans of milk in front of him. He 
was half asleep and did not see the three animals 
coming down the sidewalk, but his horse saw 
them and was so surprised that he gave a great 
jump and started off on a run, upsetting the 
milk-cart, pitching the milkman into the middle 
of the street, and knocking the covers off the 
milk-cans so that the milk came running in a 
stream down the gutter. The monkey and the 
bear thought it would be a great pity to waste 
all this good milk, so they stuck their noses into 
the stream and had some long drinks from it. 
The orang-outang wanted to join them, but he 

[9] 


IO 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


was afraid of soiling his clothes if he lay down 
in the street, and he could not very well get a 
drink of the milk unless he did so. As for the 
milkman he ran after his horse and they did not 
see him again. 

They went on a little farther and whom should 
they see coming but the letter-carrier ; he was just 
stopping at a letter-box and was looking into it 
to take out the letters, so that he did not see the 
three animals till they were close by the box; 
then he heard the jingling of the bells and looked 
up, and was so startled that he dropped all the 
letters and they went flying around on the side- 
walk and in the street, and the letter-carrier 
wished he could get into the box and shut the 
cover and stay there, because he was so fright- 
ened. But at this moment two men came along 
who were going to their work to dig out some 
ground for a stone wall; one of these men had a 
big pickaxe, and the other had a spade, and when 
they saw the orang-outang, the bear, the monkey, 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


ii 


and the letter-carrier, they came up and stood 
still to see what the matter was. 



When the orang-outang saw these workmen it 
was his turn to be frightened, and the bear did 


12 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


not like the looks of the pickaxe and the spade, 
while the monkey’s teeth began to chatter, and 
he looked round for a tree, thinking it might 
be the safest thing for him to climb to the top 
of it. 

After the animals and the three men had 
looked at each other for a little while, the orang- 
outang put his hand on his heart and made a low 
bow and shook the reins, and the bear began to 
dance with all his might and main, and the mon- 
key ran around and picked up the letters and 
gave them to the letter-carrier, who seemed very 
much pleased, and the workmen laughed and 
clapped their hands to make the bear go on 
dancing. When the dance was over the men 
were so pleased that they each gave a present; 
one of the workmen opened his tin can and gave 
the orang-outang a piece of gingerbread which 
made up for his not having had any milk; the 
other workman gave the bear an old pipe, and 
the letter-carrier presented the monkey with a 




K,.' JV 




■r 


They stuck their noses into the stream.”— Page g 










































































THE ANIMAL BOOK 


i3 


whistle, which he was very glad to get because he 
said to himself that it would do for one of the 
presents for the thirteen grandchildren, as he 
knew of one of the boys who would take it and 
whistle all day and put it under his pillow when 
he went to bed, and begin whistling with it as 
soon as he woke up in the morning and long 
before anybody else was out of bed. 

After this the three animals went on down the 
hill into the town, and as they were going 
through the streets all of a sudden the monkey 
gave a shrill little scream, and caught hold of 
the bear’s right paw, and called out to him and 
the orang-outang, “Listen, a hand-organ!” So 
they both listened, and sure enough it was a 
hand-organ around the corner of the next side 
street, and as they turned into that street they 
saw the organ and the organ-grinder and his 
monkey. 

“Now,” said the white-nosed monkey, “we 
shall be all right. I told you we wanted a hand- 


i 4 THE ANIMAL BOOK 

organ and here it is. What good luck we are 
having.” 

“But it isn’t our hand-organ,” growled the 
bear. “It’s an opposition show.” 

“Just you wait,” said the monkey, “and leave 
it all to me, and we will make it a combination 
show.” 

What the monkey meant by a “combination 
show” was two shows put together so as to make 
one show. 

Then the white-nosed monkey went up to the 
organ-grinder’s monkey and they had a long talk 
in monkey language together, and after a while it 
was agreed that they should all go together to 
the large Square in the town, and there the or- 
gan-grinder should play the hand-organ, and the 
bear should dance, and the two monkeys should 
climb the telegraph poles and play all the tricks 
they knew, and the organ-grinder and the orang- 
outang should take all the money the people 
would give, and the organ-grinder should keep 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


i5 


one half for himself and the orang-outang should 
have the other half to buy Christmas presents for 
the thirteen grandchildren. 

So they all went together to the Square and 
began the performance. The men and women 
and boys and girls came out of the houses and 
the shops and from all around to see this wonder- 
ful show. The organ-grinder made the loudest 
music that ever came out of a hand-organ. The 
bear nearly danced his legs and paws off. The 
monkeys swung by their tails and hung by their 
teeth and made faces at each other and every- 
body, and whenever the music or the dancing 
stopped for a minute the white-nosed monkey 
nearly blew his cheeks off with whistling. 

All the people were very much amused and 
they looked very hard at the orang-outang. At 
first they thought he was the organ-grinder’s 
father because he had such an old-looking face; 
then they thought perhaps he was his brother or 
only his friend. Some people tried to speak to 






The bear nearly danced his legs and paws off .” — Page 15 







































THE ANIMAL BOOK 


i7 


him, but all he did was to put his hand on his 
heart and bow, and every one thought he was a 
very polite, kind-hearted old gentleman, only 
sometimes he seemed to be rather cruel to the 
bear when he made him dance higher and higher 
and gave him no time to rest. 

The organ-grinder gave the monkeys two tin 
cups to collect the money in and they were soon 
filled up with pennies and nickels and silver 
pieces, and when the organ-grinder had put them 
all in a long bag he played the last piece of mu- 
sic, and then the show was over and all the peo- 
ple went away. The organ-grinder invited the 
orang-outang and the bear and the monkey to 
go home and take lunch with him, which they 
were very glad to do. The bear was so tired 
after his dancing that he had to lie down after 
lunch and take a long nap; the monkeys had 
stopped on their way to buy a peck of peanuts 
and were very busy cracking and eating them. 
The organ-grinder and the orang-outang counted 


l8 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


out the money, and each took one half of it and 
both of them had enough. 

Then the orang-outang said that he must go to 
the large city, which was not far from the town, 



and buy the Christmas presents for the thirteen 
grandchildren, and he asked the organ-grinder 
to go along with him and help him select them. 
The organ-grinder told him the first thing was 
to make out his list, and he got a pencil and a 
sheet of paper and told the orang-outang to tell 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


19 


him the names of the thirteen grandchildren and 
the present he wanted to get for each one. This 
was a hard thing for the orang-outang to do, be- 
cause he only knew the thirteen grandchildren 
by sight and did not know their names. The 
organ-grinder said he could number them and 
call the eldest Number One, and the next one 
Number Two, and so on down to Number Thir- 
teen. The orang-outang thought this was a good 
plan, and the organ-grinder put the numbers on 
the paper, making them very large, because the 
orang-outang could not see very well and had no 
spectacles. 

The next thing was to set down the presents, 
one opposite each number. They had to get only 
twelve presents, because the letter-carrier’s 
whistle was one present, and the question was 
which grandchild should have that; whether it 
should be given to Number One or to some other 
number. The orang-outang thought it ought to 
be given to one of the boys, because boys were so 
fond of whistling; while the organ-grinder, who, 


20 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


strange to say, was not fond of music, was for 
giving it to a girl. But, as they had only put 
down numbers and not names, they could not 
tell which numbers stood for boys and which for 
girls, so they did not know what to do about the 
whistle. At last they made up their minds to 
go to the city and buy twelve presents, and not 
put any on the paper until they had bought them 
all, and then see where the whistle should go. 

By this time it was nearly two o’clock in the 
afternoon, and as the next day was Christmas the 
presents for the thirteen grandchildren must be 
bought directly, and there was no time to lose. 
The orang-outang left the bear and the monkey 
at the house of the organ-grinder, who walked 
with him to the station and bought the tickets. 
When the train came he proposed to go into the 
smoking-car. The orang-outang said, “No.” He 
was afraid to go into the smoking-car because 
he knew that as sure as he did so the clothes he 
had taken from the grandmamma’s pile in the 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


21 


attic would smell of the smoke, and she would 
want to know how this had happened, and then 
she might smell the smoke in the Animal Book, 
and turn over the pages until she came to the 
orang-outang, and there the smell of smoke 
would be so strong that he would surely be found 
out and disgraced, and perhaps all the animals 
would be sent away. 

It was rather hard for the orang-outang to 
make the organ-grinder understand all this while 
they were getting on the train, but he found out 
that the orang-outang meant to have his own way 
when he caught him by the coat-collar and 
jerked him off the platform of the smoking-car 
into the car next to it, so that the organ-grinder 
was thrown down between the seats. He jumped 
up and was going to strike back, when the orang- 
outang opened his mouth wide and showed all 
his teeth with such a fierce look that the organ- 
grinder thought that he had better forgive him 
and say nothing about it, and as two ladies who 


22 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


were sitting near the door got up very quickly 
and gave their seats to them, the orang-outang 
and the organ-grinder sat down, side by side, and 
were very good friends all the way to the city. 

The organ-grinder said they had better go to 
the biggest department store, and when the 
orang-outang got there he thought it was the 
most beautiful place he had ever seen. They 
stopped outside for a while looking at the won- 
derful sights in the big windows, and then went 
in with all the other people who had come there 
to buy presents. It seemed to the orang-outang 
as if all the presents in the world were in that 
one place, and he could not tell which were the 
prettiest. When he came to the counter where 
the big wax dolls were, all dressed up in silk and 
satin and fur, and opening and shutting their 
eyes, and some of them saying “Papa” and 
“Mamma,” he took them all for real live grand- 
children and began to wonder who the grand- 
papa could be who had so many more than thir- 



“ The orang-outang and the organ-grinder sat down side by side.” 

— Page 22 






THE ANIMAL BOOK 


23 


teen grandchildren. Then there were fire- 
engines and locomotives and steamboats and ex- 
press wagons, hobby-horses and a thousand other 
things, most of which were too large for the 
orang-outang to carry away with him, so he 
could not buy dolls or velocipedes and he was 
wondering what he could pick out that would 
be small enough to take in his hands when, all 
of a sudden, he came across a lot of cunning toy 
animals, just like a great many of those in the 
Animal Book and looking so much like real live 
animals that the orang-outang almost thought 
they must be alive. He made signs to the organ- 
grinder that he had found the presents for the 
grandchildren, and they made a selection of 
twelve, and then the orang-outang thought that, 
after all, it would be best to have thirteen, so 
that each grandchild might have an animal and 
the white-nosed monkey could give his whistle 
to the organ-grinder’s monkey or keep it himself, 
just as he might choose. 



[ 24 ] 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


25 


When the presents were all selected, the young 
lady who sold toys wrapped them up very nicely, 
and with the help of the organ-grinder the 
orang-outang counted out the money to pay for 
them, and took the bundle under his arm and was 
very happy. When he put his hand in his coat 
pocket to get out the money he had felt a large 
orange which some one had given him in the 
Square while he was making the bear dance, and 
now that he had bought the presents he thought 
it would be a good time for him to eat the orange, 
so down he sat on the floor and, laying the bundle 
beside him, took the orange in both of his paws. 
You know, there are several different ways of 
dividing an orange. Every boy and girl under- 
stands that an orange is round, like the globe, 
and some people cut it straight down from the 
North Pole to the South Pole, while others cut 
it across through the Equator, and others, again, 
divide it, like the globe, into four quarters, but 
whatever way they cut it they take care not to 


2 6 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


eat the peel or the pits. But orang-outangs gen- 
erally make but one or two bites of an orange, 
without stopping to cut or quarter it, and swal- 
low the peel and the seeds along with the rest 
of the fruit, and our orang-outang bit off half 
the orange at once. All the people had been 
so busy buying their presents that they had taken 
no notice of him up to this time, but when he 
squatted down on the floor, taking up a great 
deal of room, they began to look at him very 
hard and to wonder who he could be, because 
it seemed strange that an old gentleman should 
want to sit down so, and still more strange that 
he should make only two bites of an orange and 
eat it in such a queer way. Presently, when they 
saw his great paws and his hairy face, there was 
a great deal of laughing and shouting and some 
screaming, and this made such a disturbance that 
a big policeman came in with a great club, and 
went to the orang-outang and told him to get up 
and go out The orang-outang, who was very 



“The orang-outang bit off half the orange at once .” — Page 26 






THE ANIMAL BOOK 


27 


busy eating, did nothing but sit still and take 
another bite, which finished the orange. Every- 
body shouted again, and the policeman stooped 
down and caught the orang-outang by the collar 
of his overcoat to pull him up from the floor and 
take him to the door, on which the orang-outang 
gave a great jump, and roared out just as if he 
had been in the forest, and jerked the club out 
of the policeman’s hands and swung it around 
so swiftly that all the people ran off as fast as 
they could run, and the policeman, too, the 
orang-outang running after them, making the 
club swing around his head like a pin-wheel set 
off on the Fourth of July, so that pretty soon the 
orang-outang and the organ-grinder had the 
whole store to themselves, except that the young 
ladies who sold toys and other things, and who 
could not get out, were hiding behind the doors 
and under the counters. 

There is no telling what harm the orang- 
outang might have done with the policeman’s 


28 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


club if it had not come into his head just then 
that it was time to go, and that they might lose 
the 6.10 train if they waited any longer, so he 
threw down the club, picked up his parcel, 
pulled the organ-grinder to the door, and before 
anybody knew what had become of them they 
were off for the Grand Central Depot. 


IV 

W HEN they came to the organ-grinder’s 
house they heard a great noise, and on 
opening the door the first thing they saw was a 
pile of peanut shells reaching nearly up to the 
ceiling and the two monkeys lying beside it on 
the floor, kicking and twisting and screaming 
with pain. They had been eating peanuts ever 
since the organ-grinder and the orang-outang 
had left them and now they had awful pains, just 
as any boy or girl would have on Christmas, or 
any other day, if they should eat too much candy 
or cake or other things. 

The bear was sitting quietly in one corner with 
the piece of old pipe in his mouth, which he 
seemed to enjoy as much as if there had been 
something in it to smoke, and he paid no atten- 

[29] 


30 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


tion to the poor monkeys. Perhaps he thought 
they were screaming for fun, or to amuse him, 
just as they had done so many things to amuse 
the people on the Square. 



But the organ-grinder knew all about monkeys 
and something about peanuts, and he went to a 
shelf and took down a big black bottle of medi- 
cine, and held the monkeys tight while he poured 
a dose down each of their throats and gave them 
a hard shaking, because, as he read the label on 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


3i 


the bottle, they were to be well shaken when the 
medicine was taken. The poor monkeys made 
most pitiful faces and dismal yells, but the or- 
gan-grinder wanted to cure them before Christ- 
mas and when he made a motion to give them a 
second dose they stopped screaming all at once 
and were perfectly quiet. 

Then the organ-grinder and the orang-outang 
arranged how the presents should be given to the 
thirteen grandchildren and put down the present 
for each one on the list where the number had 
been written. Number One had an elephant, 
Number Two a camel, and so on, down to Num- 
ber Thirteen — an animal for every grandchild, 
and, after this was done, the orang-outang and 
the bear and the white-nosed monkey waited un- 
til it was so late that they were sure that every 
one would be in bed in the house on the hill, and 
then they shook paws all around and said good- 
by. The two monkeys were very sorry to part 
company. White-nose gave the whistle to the 


32 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


other monkey as a Christmas present, and the 
orang-outang gave the organ-grinder all the 
money he had left in his pocket because it would 
be of no use to him any longer. This pleased the 
organ-grinder very much and he said the 
orang-outang was the kind of partner he liked 
to have. 

The three animals had got close to the large 
gate of the house on the hill when all at once the 
orang-outang sat down on the curb-stone of the 
sidewalk with his feet in the gutter and gave a 
great groan. 

“What is the matter?” said the bear and the 
monkey. 

“Matter enough,” said the orang-outang; “in 
the first place, how are we ever going to get all 
these presents to the thirteen grandchildren? 
They are not in this house, but live around in 
different houses, some of them ever so far from 
here, and we cannot get there to-night nor any 
time; and in the next place, how can we get into 



“They knew he was Santa Claus himself .” — Page 34 





THE ANIMAL BOOK 


33 

the house with all the doors locked and all the 
windows fastened as they are now, at twelve 
o’clock at night?” 

The bear gave a low growl and hung his head 
down toward the gutter and said nothing. 

The monkey spoke up and said: “I might 
climb up to some one of the windows but I sup- 
pose I should find it tight shut, for the grand- 
mamma is very particular to go round every 
night and see that all the doors and windows are 
bolted and fastened, and I cannot go down by the 
chimney because I am not Santa Claus. Nobody 
could do that except Santa Claus.” 

Just then they heard a sound of bells up the 
street, and very soon they saw something moving 
along that looked like a great pile of boxes and 
bundles, with rocking-horses and sleds and toys 
on the top and the sides, and in front sat the 
driver who was an old fellow with a long, white 
beard and a pointed fur cap, and who, when he 
got to the gate and saw the orang-outang, the 


34 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


bear and the white-nosed monkey, began to laugh 
so merrily they knew he was Santa Claus him- 
self. 

“How strange it is,” said the monkey, “that we 
should find Santa Claus just here.” 

“Not a bit more strange,” said the orang- 
outang, “than that Santa Claus should find us 
just here. Very strange things happen on 
Christmas night.” 

When Santa Claus heard their story he 
laughed more merrily yet. 

“Give me your bundle,” said he. “I know all 
the thirteen grandchildren; they have all written 
me letters, and I have something here for each 
of them and will put your presents along with 
mine in their stockings, so that each one will get 
the right animal; just wait a minute or two and 
you will be able to walk right into the house, 
for I am going there and I will open the front 
door from the inside, but mind you lock and bolt 
it after you.” 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


35 

“But how can you tell ” began the mon- 

key. 

“Don’t ask me any questions whatever,” said 
Santa Claus. “If boys and girls and monkeys 
would be good friends with Santa Claus and 
have Santa Claus a good friend with them, they 
must not want to know anything more about him 
than what they find in their stockings. So good- 
night and Merry Christmas!” and off he went in 
a jiffy. 


y 


S URE enough when they went, after a little 
while, to the front door they found it ajar, 
and entered on tiptoe without making the least 
noise, locking and bolting it as Santa Claus had 
told them to do. Then the orang-outang took off 
his shoes and his whole suit, and the monkey car- 
ried all the things, including the soft hat, up to 
the attic and laid them all in order on the pile 
for the missionary, after which he came down 
stairs and the three animals made their way into 
the Library and to the corner where the Animal 
Book was kept, and crept in very softly, sup- 
posing that all the rest of the animals were sound 
asleep and would not know anything of their 
coming. 

No such thing at all. The other animals were 
all wide awake and sitting up for them. 

[ 36 ] 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


37 


It had happened this way. They thought no- 
body saw them when they went away the night 
before, but this was a great mistake. The lynx, 
who had the sharpest sight of all the animals, and 
who always slept with both eyes open, had seen 
them when they slipped out and wondered what 
they were going to do, but, as he was a particular 
friend of the orang-outang, he did not want to 
make a noise or say anything, and let them all 
get away before he told any of the animals. But 
early the next morning, he told all he had seen, 
and after a while the animals thought that their 
going away had something to do with Christmas, 
and so they were all waiting to hear what they 
would have to say when they got back. 

The orang-outang told the whole story of their 
adventures, and the bear and the monkey helped 
him in telling it, and when the animals heard 
about the meeting with Santa Claus, and how 
the thirteen grandchildren were sure to have the 
wonderful presents which the orang-outang de- 


38 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


scribed, they were greatly delighted, and still 
more so when they heard that the presents were 
to be given from the Animal Book so that every 
animal in it should have a share in giving the 
presents. 

The polar bear said they ought to give a vote 
of thanks to the orang-outang, the bear and the 
monkey; and the others all thought so too, except 
the hippopotamus, who, just as the elephant was 
waving his trunk to make all the animals look 
toward him and ask them if they agreed to thank 
the orang-outang, the bear and the monkey, 
called out in a very gruff voice that he did not 
want to thank them, and that he did not care any- 
thing about children or grandchildren or pres- 
ents or Christmas; that it was a day for people 
to be idle in, and for boys and girls to get sick 
by eating candy and cake, and if he could have 
his way there would not be any Christmas at all. 

This made all the other animals very unhappy, 
and they talked to each other a while until some 



‘‘A Merry Christmas !” — Page 41 













































































THE ANIMAL BOOK 


39 


one said: “Suppose we ask the lion what he 
thinks about Christmas, for he is the king of the 
beasts and what he will say must be right.” 

When the lion was told that he must speak to 
all the other animals he shook his mane and 
stood up and said: 

“I know that the lion is the king of beasts, but 
I am an old lion, with no crown and no throne, 
and I am too weak to speak more than a few 
words, but I will say that this is a good day, for 
once upon a time it brought peace on earth and 
good will to men, and now it brings joy into 
homes and hearts, smiles for tears and glad 
thoughts for grief, and so I think it is blest for 
old and young, and great and small, and boys 
and girls, and for beasts and birds, too, for of all 
things in the world the best is Love, and what 
is best must be best for all.” 

While the lion was talking, the hippopotamus 
had crept up behind the elephant so as to hear 
better what was said, as he was hard of hearing, 


40 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


just as he was hard every other way, and when 
the lion finished the elephant sat down on the 



hippopotamus in such a way that nothing more 
was heard from him, and all the other animals 
agreed that they would thank the orang-outang 
and the bear and the monkey, and they were all 
happy together. 


VI 



ND when the Christmas sun rose and the 


thirteen grandchildren ran to their stock- 
ings they found a great many very nice things in 
them, but nothing surprised them more than the 
little animals, each one with a card tied to his 
neck by a red ribbon, just like this: 

WITH A 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

FROM THE 

ANIMAL BOOK 

Now, if any boys and girls who read this story 
think it is not a true one, let them come to the 
Library at the house on the hill where the Ani- 
mal Book is, and they can see the orang-outang 
and the European bear and the white-nosed mon- 


[41] 


42 


THE ANIMAL BOOK 


key for themselves, and the polar bear, the ele- 
phant, the giraffe, the lynx, the hippopotamus, 
and all the rest, and if any grandpapa is blessed 
with thirteen grandchildren, or any other num- 
ber of grandchildren, and wants to know how to 
find presents for all of them, let him also come 
and take a leaf out of the Animal Book. 



t * 

























4 



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